Name
by goldensphere
Summary: Paul's friends discover what Paul's name means. Meanwhile, Ash tries to get on Paul's good side.


**Hi everyone! I decided I'll make a story for when they were eight. So get ready for eight-year-old drama! Enjoy reading!**

 **I do not own Pokémon in any way!**

* * *

"Hey, Paul," said Gary one day when the friends sat under their usual oak tree doing nothing in particular. "You don't look like a Paul."

Paul couldn't care less.

"It's true actually," said Drew. "Pauls are usually happy and cheerful kinds. You look more like a Sylvester or Xarlas or something."

"Nah," said Ash. "He looks more like a, um, a Darwin. Or wait, actually, no. Maybe… Morell."

Gary and Drew snorted.

"Haha. _Darwin_ ," Drew snickered.

"I wonder what Paul means," Gary mused as he took out his iPod touch and started searching the internet. After a while of searching, Gary burst out laughing.

"What? What?!" Ash and Drew cried together as the scooched beside Gary. After looking at the screen, the other two started laughing as well.

Now, Paul had never really given thought to what his name could mean.

"What?" He was unable to keep in his curiosity.

" _Paul_ means _small_!" Ash exclaimed as he continued laughing. His laughter soon died out when he saw Paul's expression. "Hey, what's wrong, Paul?" he asked with concern in his voice.

Paul hmphed and turned away.

"Small Paul! Small Paul!" Gary and Drew chanted together. "Small Paul! Small Paul!"

Paul crossed his arms with a scowl.

Ash looked around with a confused expression from Paul to the other two, then back to Paul. Should he do something? Maybe this was his chance to get on Paul's good side so they could become _real_ friends. He couldn't decide.

Finally, the raven-head stood up and boldly faced Gary and Drew with a serious expression. He felt that it was his duty to defend Paul. Anyhow.

"Stop picking on Paul!" he demanded, trying to look tough, despite having a small voice. "You're making him very upset! I think he's gonna cry."

"Am not!" Paul shouted angrily as he stood up to face Ash. "I am _not_ about to cry!"

"But your eyes are all shiny," pointed out Ash, unaware that he was going to make the situation worse. "Like you're gonna have tears in them."

"No!" the plum-head said defensively. Where did Ash get the idea that he was going to cry? He was not a baby.

"But—"

"Is anything wrong over here?" a lady's voice interrupted him. Gary and Drew immediately stopped laughing. All four boys looked up to see a teacher sternly peering at them through her thin-wire glasses. They recognized her as their own homeroom teacher, who was currently in charge of supervision outside.

"Um… Um no," Gary said quickly, standing up. "There's nothing wrong."

Drew stood up too. "Yeah. Nothing wrong," he echoed in a quiet voice.

The other two boys silently nodded in agreement.

The teacher looked at them in suspicion. "I better keep an eye on them," she thought out loud to herself. "Those little rascals," she added as she walked away.

"What did we do?!" exclaimed Gary, looking around at the others. "We weren't doing anything wrong!"

"She's just like that," mumbled Drew, feeling too moody to flip his hair. "Like she's always been."

* * *

Later that day, when school ended, Paul patiently waited on a bench for his older brother to come pick him up. As soon he saw Reggie approaching, he made his best scowl, crossed his arms, and looked at Reggie accusingly.

"What's wrong?" the older one asked the younger, trying to hide the amusement in his voice. "Bad day?"

Paul got up and started walking along with his brother to the bus stop.

"It's all your fault," he grumbled without even looking up.

"And what is it that I did that— Oh! Are you angry because I forgot to pack you some orange juice in your lunch bag?"

Paul rolled his eyes. Did his brother really think he was angry just because of _that_? Okay, maybe a bit. But there were more important things in life besides orange juice, he knew.

"Why didn't you tell me that my name meant _small_?" he asked, looking up. Reggie raised his eyebrows at him.

"So _that's_ what your all grumpy about. Because your name means small?" Without warning, the sixteen year old burst out laughing.

"It's not funny!" Paul defended as they stood by the bus-stop.

"Of course it's not," replied Reggie as he abruptly stopped laughing. "Of course it's not." He bent down at Paul's level to look at him in the eye.

"But you know what?" Reggie said softly. "Have you ever given thought of what your last name might mean?" Without waiting for a reply, the eggplant-head continued. "Well, Shinji means ruler. You are Paul Shinji. You may be small, but you're still a ruler. So basically, you are a small ruler!" the teen concluded, giving his younger brother something to think about. "Let's get on the bus now." The two boys boarded onto the bus that had been waiting for them for three minutes already.

* * *

The next day when Paul entered his classroom at school, the first person he saw was Gary, waiting for him on his desk.

"Hi Small Paul!" he greeted him while looking at him with unusual, fake innocence. "How are you today?"

"I'm not Paul anymore," the plum-head replied seriously. "My name is now Shinji. From now on, call me Shinji."

"You want us to call you by your _last_ name?" Ash joined the conversation. "But why?"

"That's none of your business," was the response.

"If you say so Pau—I mean Shinji," said the raven-head.

Soon, the teacher entered the classroom.

"Everybody, take a seat and be quiet!" she ordered the noisy set of third graders. "And let me take attendance."

At once every student did as they were told and waited patiently. They knew better than to mess with their teacher. She started calling out names.

"—Brianna Rosanda?"

"Here!" called out the little brunette.

"Paul—"

"He said to call him Shinji from now on," Ash interrupted, being the 'good friend' he was.

Paul face-palmed.

 _Ash! Not the **teacher**! _ he thought irritatedly.

The teacher sharply looked up from her attendance list and her eyes landed on Ash. She walked towards the raven-head as the boy cowered down, and slammed her hand loudly on his desk causing him to flinch.

"How many times must I tell you this," she vociferated as she leaned closer to his face with every word, "that you should _never_ interrupt a teacher while she is talking!" She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Understand?"

Ash quickly nodded his head. "Yes," he mumbled weakly. The teacher harshly pushed him back onto his chair.

"Good," she said. She then swiftly walked back to her desk and picked up the attendance sheet again.

"As I was saying," she declared strictly. "Paul Shinji?"

Paul glared at her bitterly. Although he himself had gotten extremely annoyed by Ash from time to time, he never felt that Ash deserved such harshness. He was aware that the raven-head was simply trying to be a good friend, and _this_ was what he got in return? He'd had the courage to boldly tell the teacher what Paul had told him…

That was no way to treat someone so innocent. Despite the plum-head's usual respect for elders, Paul knew that his teacher had gotten too far now. Paul may have been bitter, anti-social, maybe even cold-hearted, but he was not mean. At least not in his eyes. Admittedly, Paul was even slightly _glad_ that Ash had stood up for him like that, like he _cared_ for Paul, just as a good friend should. And now that he had thought about it, it wasn't just today. It was _every_ day.

Paul glanced sideways to Ash and after seeing Ash wiping away tears with the back of his hands, his dislike for the teacher increased. Ash didn't deserve to be treated like this.

"I'm not Paul. I'm just Shinji," Paul said simply, his voice laced with hatefulness. He stood up from his chair and looked the teacher in the eye. "Call me Shinji."

The teacher was taken aback with shock. She had never been spoken to with such bitterness. She was speechless.

When she finally found her voice again, the teacher took a step towards the boy's desk, her expression twisted with fury, yet also hurt.

"Who gave you permission to speak to me with such disrespect?!" she spat venomously. "This is what I get for being your teacher?!"

"That is what Ash gets for trying to be nice?" Paul shot back, holding his ground.

Everything went silent.

"I may look small, but I was still born a ruler," Paul continued. "I may seem young but you're no more cooler. You think you're great, you think you're so high. But you're just another person; you live, then you die." The boy started speaking more faster. "What 'chu gonna say? You're stranger each day. Always wanting your way… like today. Being mean to us 'cause we're just eight, you're someone we hate. It's too long to wait.

"The year's almost done. It passed by so slow. And with a teacher like you, we're eager to go. I know this sounds mean. I sound like a teen. I'm causing a scene. It's like I'm thirteen. Though I'm not." Paul stopped to breathe. Then he looked up again. He was out of rhymes. "So you get my point?" he asked seeing the teacher's incredulous look. He continued panting hard. _Who knew rapping was so hard. They made it look so easy on T.V.,_ Paul thought to himself. He felt a tinge of triumph and was impressed at himself for making everything on the spot.

The teacher just blinked with her mouth still dropped open.

"That was… impressive," she said finally. "For a third grader," she added.

Paul looked around to see everyone staring at him and he awkwardly sat down. Why did he suddenly feel the urge to start rapping, he had no clue. _Well that was embarrassing,_ the plum-head thought to himself.

The teacher's expression softened and she gave a small smile—something that was very rare for her to do.

"You are quite an extraordinary boy, Paul. Or must I say _Shinji,_ " she said quietly, still smiling. "You just made my day."

Paul put his head down on his desk as everyone turned around to look at him.

They in an even softer voice the teacher said, "I'm sorry."

Everyone sat in stunned silence. Those were the very two words they had never thought they would ever hear their teacher say.

"WOO! YOU DID IT, PAUL!" a boy name Barry cheered, breaking the silence. The other students waited for a while, and when the teacher didn't say anything, they joined in with the cheering.

"That was amazing!"

"Go Paul! Go Shinji!" someone who was unsure which name to call him by cheered.

"Won't you teach me how to rap like that?"

The poor plum-head hid his face with his hands. He hated being in the center on attention.

He felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Hey. Thanks," he heard Ash's voice say. "Does that mean we're _real_ friends now?" he asked hopefully.

Paul looked up. "Okay," he mumbled moodily and dropped his head back onto his desk.

Then he felt a larger hand rest on his head, much to his discomfort.

"You may be small, but you still are a ruler," the teacher whispered. "And you always will be. Thank you."

* * *

Now in case you are wondering, the rest of the attendance was forgotten and they spent the rest of the class cheering and celebrating. And then they continued their day like any normal day as if nothing had happened.

The End

* * *

 **And done! How was it? I know the ending didn't exactly make sense but oh well. Please R &R and have a good day!  
**


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